Washington – As Senate Democrats work to send President Biden's remaining nominees to the nation's courts before he leaves office and control of upper chamber flipThey are fighting against efforts by their Republican colleagues to slow the pace of confirmation, amid President-elect Donald Trump's insistence that his party “hold the line.”
Mr Biden and Trump have made judicial nominations a priority during their respective terms in office, as the courts become the arbiters of politically charged disputes over issues affecting all corners of American life.
During his first term in office, the Senate confirmation 234 Among Trump's judicial nominees to Article III courts, which include the Supreme Court, federal appeals courts, district courts, and the U.S. Court of International Trade. But Mr Biden is rapidly approaching that number for his four-year term, with the Senate having so far approved 217 of his nominees for the federal bench. There are 44 current vacancies, and 14 nominees awaiting upper house action. According to judicial convention,
are democrats hope to meet or surpass Trump secured 234 judicial confirmations during the lame-duck session, but he faced resistance from Republicans who — at Trump's instigation — were trying to stall and drag out the process.
When the Senate convened for votes on Monday, Republicans used a procedural maneuver to drag out floor proceedings, slowing Democrats' efforts to confirm Mr. Biden's judicial picks. The plan to slow down confirmation was created by Senator John Thune of South Dakota, who was elected last week To serve as the next GOP leader, according to Fox News.
“If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would simply go away and allow him to quickly confirm several Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” Thune said in a statement. “
Trump is also pressuring Senate Republicans to thwart Democrats' efforts to continue approving Mr. Biden's judicial picks.
“Democrats are trying to fill the courts with radical leftist judges,” he wrote on social media. “Republican senators need to step up and stay in line – no more judges will be confirmed before Inauguration Day!”
But Democrats are not breaking new ground by confirming Mr. Biden’s judicial nominees during the deadlocked session. In 2020, after Trump lost his bid for reelection, the GOP-led Senate confirmed 19 nominees to the federal bench, including one judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and four from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Judges were involved.
Among those gaining endorsements in the weeks following the 2020 election was U.S. District Judge Katherine Mizell, who at 33 was the youngest of Trump's nominees and deemed “not eligible” For service in the district court by the American Bar Association. US District Judge Eileen Cannon, who criminal case dismissed Trump was also confirmed by the Senate after the 2020 election for alleged misuse of sensitive documents.
“Delays in the confirmation of highly qualified, experienced judges have real-life impacts on constituents and lead to a backlog of criminal cases – meaning that Senator Thune was right in 2020 when he said that senators have a lack of goodwill toward staff. There is every reason to continue working together,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said of efforts to speed up the confirmation process. “There is no excuse for choosing partisanship over enforcement of the rule of law. Not there.”
Advocacy groups are pressuring Senate Democrats to continue votes to approve all of the president's remaining nominees to the federal bench before Trump takes office in late January and Republicans claim the Senate majority.
On Friday, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and 141 groups sent a Letter The senators urged confirmation of all pending judicial nominees, calling it “urgent and urgent.”
“We urge you to stay put and do this essential work,” the organizations said. “It is essential that we do not leave any judge behind.”
Demand Justice, a progressive judicial advocacy group, also launched a campaign aimed at pressuring senators to greenlight Mr. Biden’s picks for the federal courts.
“With only weeks left before the new Congress, it is more urgent than ever that Democratic senators do whatever it takes during the lame-duck session to confirm the dozens of remaining fair-minded, qualified judges nominated by President Biden – Working late hours, working weekends – “The American people deserve this,” said Maggie Jo Buchanan, managing director of Demand Justice.
Senate Democrats are bracing for Republican efforts and have indicated they will move to confirm Mr Biden's judicial picks.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed Tuesday that Democrats' work “is not done yet” and said his party will do everything it can to “get as many judges confirmed as possible.” .
“Everyone should be prepared late Wednesday night to vote on nominations and appoint as many judges as possible,” the New York Democrat said. He said Republicans “may try delaying tactics but we will continue, as we demonstrated last night, as we continue to do so.”
Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic whip who is also chairman of the Judiciary Committee, celebrated the judges brought forward by the committee over the past four years of Democratic control, noting that the majority of judges the Senate has considered are bipartisan. , are winning support from Republicans.
But some Republicans did not see them that way, such as Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, who argued that many of Mr. Biden’s nominees “are not qualified to be on the federal bench” and called them “activists.”
Still, Senate Republicans acknowledge they cannot block judicial selections across the board as Trump has requested. Nebraska Republican Senator Pete Ricketts said that although Republicans would like to carry out Trump's wishes, “Democrats are in the majority, and even if we have all of our members here, we can't stop it, as long as they have all of their members.” “
“So, we'll definitely try,” Ricketts said.